From My Tears Inside

Art & Poetry by Michael Leak #198660

A reflection on isolation, family separation, and the ache to be remembered

Every week, we hear from people inside Michigan’s prisons who are fighting to stay connected to their children, their parents, their partners, to the parts of themselves that still believe in love and belonging.

One of those individuals is Michael Leak.

Michael has been reaching out to advocacy organizations across Michigan in search of support, hoping to reconnect with family and preserve the fragile threads that remain.

Efforts were made by many organizations to help facilitate reconnection. Despite those efforts, he has not been able to reconnect with his aging mother, whose health is in decline. He worries every day that it could be her last, that he may not have the chance to tell her he loves her again.

Over time, his family relationships have been strained, severed by incarceration, distance, and years of isolation. Still, he wants the world to know this. He tried. He continues to try. He has not given up on connection, on love, or on the hope of reconciliation.

His story is not unique. For many families, reunification after years of incarceration is not simple. Without consistent support, meaningful programming, family counseling, and intentional efforts to preserve family bonds, relationships can erode beyond repair.

Systems have the power to either deepen that distance or help families remain connected through structured visitation, therapeutic services, and family centered programming.

Connection does not survive on hope alone. It requires support.

What makes Michael’s story especially striking is this: he has helped many other incarcerated men rebuild bonds with their loved ones. He encourages them to write letters. He reminds them to make the call. He pushes them not to give up.

And yet, in his own words:

“I have helped many men rebuild bonds with loved ones, yet when it comes to me, I’m the loneliest person in the world.”

Loneliness inside prison is not simply about physical confinement. It is the slow erosion of connection. It is watching envelopes stop arriving. It is grieving loved ones from behind concrete walls. It is fearing that you will disappear from memory long before you ever return home.

In his poem, From My Tears Inside, Michael Leak gives voice to that quiet terror, the fear of being forgotten and the resilience it takes to keep creating anyway. His art becomes both witness and resistance. His poetry is proof that even in isolation, the human need for connection does not disappear.

We share his words here with his permission, as testimony. As a reminder that family separation does not end at sentencing. As a call to remember that behind every number is a human being longing to be seen.

And as Michael writes, even within what feels like a curse, there is still “a gift to give.”

— Citizens for Prison Reform
Family Participation Program